Walking Tragedy
by TheMagicCupcake
Summary: Xavier - The Leader. Piper - The Fighter. Skylar - The Quiet? These three people save Daryl and Merle after a close call with walkers. Soon they find themselves with a new group which also means new tensions. How does one survive when the flesh eating freaks aren't the only ones chewing up their ass?
1. Chapter 1

This was it.

Daryl Dixon could feel the hope in his heart slowly slipping as he and his brother tried to fight off a herd of 'Zombies' unsuccessfully. The man was almost out of arrows and they were closing on him like a trapped animal. He shot his brother a look in which was returned. That was all they needed, a simple look to say goodbye.

A distant honking made Daryl's eyes snap forward as he continued to move back from the herd. The zombies were momentarily distracted by the new sound which could possibly be more food. The majority turned to the sound which happened to be someone in a huge cube van. The vehicle continued in their direction until there were a few feet in front of the two bewildered brothers.

By this point all of the zombies were crowded around the vehicle, scratching and hissing from the intrusion. A head popped over the top of the cube van and yelled out to the two men.

"Run around the corner and hide in the alleyway, we'll meet you there." Daryl gave a quick nod before grabbing his brother, Merle, and sprinting away from the herd.

The two, surprisingly, did what they were told and waited in an alley for the person in the van. Not ten minutes later the cube van swung around the corner and stopped exactly in front of the Dixon brothers. The door in front of them swung open and they were quickly ushered in.

As soon as the door closed the vehicle sped off. A gun was pressed to both brothers' head as the cube van continued.

"Names." A female voice demanded. Daryl's eyebrows shot up to his hairline in surprise. He looked at the corner of his eye to see Merle with a similar expression.

"Daryl." He said simply.

"Merle." His brother said, copying his monotonous voice. Both men heard a snort from behind them.

"Merle? I'm sorry but who names their son Merle?" The voice was different from the first one they heard, it was a lot lighter and playful even, but, no matter how playful it seemed Merle's anger always wins. Said man turned around, grabbed the gun that was at his head and pointed it at the woman who held it seconds before.

A gasp escaped her lips as her grey eyes flicked to her friend who looked stunned.

"Everything okay back there?" A male voice cut through the air. The woman who still had a gun ran a hand through her thick black curls.

"Yeah Xavier, everything's good," she called back. The woman without a gun shook her blonde hair out of its ponytail in a calm manner. Merle held the gun tighter angrily.

"Look, Merle, if we didn't come to save you, you would be Zombie dinner okay? You're lucky we saved your sorry ass so give me my damn gun back and maybe we can have a normal conversation." The older man looked at the blonde shocked but gave back her gun nonetheless.

He sat back down quietly next to the blonde while the brunette made Daryl sit down.

"Names." Merle demanded. The blonde was the first to speak up.

"I'm Piper and over there is Skylar, she doesn't talk much so don't mind her quietness," Merle and Daryl both nodded, "You got a group?" Again the two nodded.

"Where?" Skylar asked. All heads snapped to her and immediately a blush formed in her tan cheeks.

"Just outside of Atlanta, beside a quarry," Daryl answered. Skylar immediately stood up to tell Xavier.

"Hope you don't mind a few extras."

The Atlanta survivors could hear the engine of a vehicle but couldn't quite decipher where it was. Dale Horvath grabbed the binoculars from around his neck and followed the sight of a van as it followed the road to the camp that they resided at.

"Uh guys?" Several survivors looked up at the old man, "We may have a problem."

The van came to a stop on the dirt road. Xavier looked out of the windshield to see several people with guns pointed at the vehicle.

"Guys, we here." He called to the four people in the back. He heard the doors open and decided to get out. He slowly slid out with both hands up to show no harm. The four people came around from the side.

Almost immediately everyone stopped pointing their weapons at the strangers from the sight of the Dixon brothers. Daryl was the first to speak up out of the small group.

"Everyone, this is Piper and Skylar and the guy over there is Xavier, we ran into 'em in Atlanta and decided to let 'em in the group so yeah." With that the man walked off to his tent. Skylar let a small smile slip from the fact that he didn't want to admit they saved his ass.

Everyone gathered to meet the new people and already they knew they were welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

The group of survivors welcomed the threesome with open arms. For once they felt they had a safe place. Skylar and Piper stuck by Amy and Andrea whilst Xavier stayed by Shane to talk about security and whatnot.

"So where are you guys from?" Amy finally asked, the curiosity eating her away, "Sorry but that accent is so familiar and I just can't place it." Piper gave Amy a smile while Skylar just blushed.

"I'm from Australia and Skylar here is from Britain," Amy nodded but still looked at little confused, "Skylar doesn't really talk much, she's…you know, I just realised I have no idea why you don't talk." Skylar's face resembled a tomato by the time Piper was finished talking. All three eyes were on her; Amy, Andrea and Piper.

"Too many people." She mumbled before standing from the log she was sitting on and walking off. All three women stared at her retreating back a little stunned.

"She's never done that with Xavier and me," Piper spoke to herself. She shrugged and turned her attention back to the two sisters, "Any other questions?"

Skylar made her way to the quarry quietly. She really didn't like so many people looking at her even if it was only three.

"Why the hell am I so goddamn shy?" She growled to herself.

"You migh' wanna watch that mouth righ' there." A voice off to the right told her. She looked to the right to see Merle standing a few feet away with a smirk on his face. Skylar's face and neck grew red in record time.

"S-s-sor-s." She couldn't even form a word to the man in front of her. Merle stepped forward with a confused expression.

"Ya alrigh' there?" Skylar immediately stepped back. Her heart raced faster than a horse could run at the races.

"I-I." Skylar turned and ran off. Daryl walked up to his older brother with a confused expression.

"What was all that about?" Merle shrugged.

"I have no idea." The brothers shrugged and went back to what they were doing before.

Skylar decided to finally hide in the cube van that they came in before. She lifted the back just enough to squeeze in and shut it tightly. She gave a small sigh of relief and laid back on the side of the van.

"That was close." She said to herself. She leant back and closed her eyes, falling asleep minutes later.

"Has anyone seen Skylar?" Piper questioned everyone at camp. She was met with all no's and sighed in annoyance. The girl was good at hiding, hence why she survived this far in the apocalypse. Piper smiled as she remembered when she found Skylar.

Piper sighed in annoyance as she looked for her hunting knife she found on


	3. Chapter 3

The next day Piper made sure to get up early to start hunting.

"Where you going?" A tired voice asked. The woman turned to reveal none other than Daryl Dixon. Said man looked beyond tired but seemed stable.

"Hunting," she simply replied. Daryl's eyes shot up in surprise, it was a natural reaction when you saw Piper. Her somewhat small stature made her look meek against most men, coupled with her long blonde hair and innocent blue eyes, you'd never tell. "Don't look so surprised." She added after seeing the male's reaction.

"Well I'll come with ya, suppose ta anyway." Piper didn't object but instead decided to ask him.

"Why do look so tired, not much sleep?" Daryl shrugged.

"Yer friend and me had a bit of a talk last night." This time it was Piper's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Xavier? I thought he was in the tent-" Daryl shook his head, effectively cutting her off.

"Skylar I think her name was." Piper was beyond surprised.

"She actually talked to you?" Daryl nodded, "Like proper conversation? No short answers or anything?"

Daryl shook his head with a concentrated expression, "No, in fact, she did most of tha talkin'," Yep, she had gone mad. There was no way they were talking about the same Skylar. The girl that could just barely talk to her best friend let alone a complete stranger.

Piper noted that the sun was beginning to rise and motioned for Daryl to follow her into the woods.

"Don't get in my way and I won't get in yours agreed?" Daryl gave a quick nod and with that they were off.

Skylar watched the conversation from the van with a small smile. As soon as the duo disappeared she made her way to the middle of the camp where the fire was just barely a flame. She stared at the flame with sadness. It reminded her of herself; weak and useless. But she pushed that thought away from her mind as soon as she heard the familiar sound of a tent unzipping. She turned to the sound and smiled at the person who came out.

Merle Dixon didn't return the smile but acknowledged her with a nod. After yesterday she was a bit weary of the girl and second guessed her mentality a little. He sat across from her on a log and got started with making the fire.

Skylar watched soundlessly as the man worked, noting how he did this or that for future references. Merle noted how the girl watched him with curiosity and decided she really was mad in the head; no one would watch him with that much curiosity.

"Close yer mouth, ya'll attract flies," Skylar shut her mouth not even remembering opening it.

"Sorry." She muttered quietly. Merle raised an eyebrow.

"Ya alright there sweetheart?" This was possibly the first time Merle had called a woman anything other than 'sugar tits' or 'honey buns' and Skylar had a feeling that he was genuinely concerned, more for her sanity most likely.

Skylar knew men like him; loud and out there and always with women. Before everything happened she made sure she never crossed a man like him but there she was sitting directly across from him actually trying to converse.

"I-uh I'm fine, just, uh, just interesting how you, uh make a fire." It was a start. Merle raised an eyebrow approvingly, last time she couldn't even form a sentence let alone finish one with only a few mishaps.

"Don't ya know how ta make one?" He asked, trying to make conversation. Skylar shifted uncomfortably.

"I, uh, I do, it's just that-um yours is a lot different than mine." Merle motioned for her to show him how she did it as he was unsuccessful.

Skylar moved to sit next to him a crouched down close to the pit. She placed a somewhat thick stick on one of the main sticks. Carefully she pushed down and blew out a small puff of breath. As she leant of her work her denim jacket rode up revealing a tattoo on the small of her back.

A purple butterfly rested on the small of her back off to the side. It looked to be flying to a lotus flower resting in smooth water. Merle raised an eyebrow at the hint of the tattoo which was the bottom of the lotus flower.

"Well whado we have 'ere? Little miss quiet has a tattoo." Skylar froze and sat up from her crouching position. Subconsciously she touched her back and turned to Merle who had an expectant look on his face, "Well, give us a look." He motioned with his hands for her to turn around which she did hesitantly. She took the denim jacket off and dumped it next her revealing a white crop top. She lifted the back of the top so he could see the rest of her tattoo.

Merle let out a low whistle, "Lemme guess, friend?" Skylar couldn't help but be slightly shocked but nodded nonetheless.

"She loved butterflies and lotus flowers and at the time her favourite colour was purple," Skylar let out a small chuckle, "She could never pick a favourite colour until I got this." Merle was pleasantly surprised to hear the girl talk in full sentences. She dropped the piece of clothing before she said anything else and picked up her discarded jacket.

"Ta-da." She waved her hands to the fire that she had successfully done to a dazed looking Merle. His eyes moved to the fire and smirked.

"Ya may just have a use girlie." Skylar grinned and thanked him. That was also probably the first time Merle somewhat complimented someone, the girl brought out a new Merle.


	4. Chapter 4

It ended up that only Glenn and Skylar were going on the run while the others stayed at camp which was just fine with Skylar and Glenn.

The two quietly walked through a store, careful of any creepers lurking around. Skylar stuffed random stuff in the two duffel bags that she held whilst Glenn searched for weapons.

"Glenn." Skylar whispered softly to the Korean man. Her head nodded to her left to show a bunch of weapons in a glass casing. "To risk making noise and have weapons or to not risk noise and not have weapons, such a hard choice." She whispered to herself sarcastically before pulling a bandana from her pocket and wrapping it around her knuckles. She looked at Glenn who quickly nodded and punched the glass.

They waited for a few seconds with bated breath but no walkers came. Quickly Skylar stuffed the weapons in the duffel and they made their way outside the city of Atlanta and back at camp.

"So you do talk?" Glenn questioned as they made their way back to the camp. Skylar shrugged in answer and tightened her grip on a knife. Glenn sighed and ran a hand over his youthful face tiredly.

"Sorry." She muttered just loud enough for the man to hear her. It was his turn to shrug.

"I get it, kind of, not really – I've always been pretty sociable, sorry." He sent her a sheepish grin that made her lips turn up in a slight smile. The rest of the walk was quiet save for the cicadas and their breaths.

The second they entered the camp, Xavier and Piper barrelled over to Skylar with looks of concern on their faces.

"I was so worried about you, when you didn't come back after sunset just- oh my." Skylar stared at the woman in confusion and then looked up at the sky. It was the first time that she had noticed that the sky was a nice inky black with the stars dotting it like freckles and a few stray clouds hovering over.

"Huh," Skylar spoke in astonishment, "I didn't even notice that." Her voice was even and louder than what it normally would be. Xavier and Piper shared looks but said nothing just in case this stopped. Skylar faced the two with a cheeky grin and held up the two very full duffel bags.

"We got a lot of stuff, let's just say, the city is loaded." With that she began to make her way into the centre of the camp where Glenn stood. Skylar shuffled around the bags for the stuff she got for herself and left them in the middle of the camp for the survivors to take a look.

"What took ya so long girlie? Ya got e'rryone worried for ya." A familiar voice piped up as she made her way to the van that she had practically claimed as her sleeping place. She turned to face Merle with a small smile on her face and pointed to the van. He followed her quietly and helped her inside before jumping in and sitting on the other side with his legs spread out and an expectant look on his face.

"We lost track of time." She said simply in a clear voice. She shrugged and began stuffing her things into a bag and putting the weapons in a different bag. Merle raised an eyebrow and humphed.

"Ah think tha' you an' ching chong didn't lose track of time." It was Skylar's turn to raise an eyebrow but hers was questioning.

"And what do you suppose that Glenn and I were doing Merle?" She knew the answer to the question; she just wanted to hear him say it just to piss him off. She crawled closer to the man on all fours which raised both of his eyebrows before sitting in front of him with their knees touching.

"Are ya fuckin' tha Chinese man?" He asked quite bluntly. A giggle left Skylar's lips before she could hide it. A dusty blush made its way to her tan cheeks at the sound of the laugh and the question.

"No, Merle, Glenn and I are not 'fucking'," she did air quotations around the word, "As you so pleasantly put it, we just hit the jackpot with the shops and we grabbed anything we could hold." She noted that Merle's face physically relaxed when she told him what happened. With a teasing smile she spoke again clearly,

"Merle, are you jealous." Said man's face hardened and a glare was sent her way but no words were spoken. Skylar's eyes widened in fake shock and her legs uncrossed to rest under her butt. She placed her hands on her knees to support herself and she put her face close to Merle's. The smile never left her lips as she searched his unshaven face. Her brown eyes found his nice, blue ones and slowly she got closer to where he could feel her breath on his lips.

"No need to be jealous, Merle." She whispered gently. Merle physically shivered and even though Skylar wasn't actually on him, she could feel his body vibrate with the shivers rolling over his body. Their eyes stayed locked, the pupils blown so big there was barely any colour left in there. Suddenly Merle leaned forward to seal a kiss. Their breath came in sharp and fast. Neither moved forward nor backwards, testing the limits of one another. The only noise came from their breaths and the slight sound of the campers conversing outside the walls of the cube truck.

Suddenly footsteps were heard quite close to the truck causing the two to jump apart swiftly. Xavier rounded the corner with an angry look on his handsome face. Merle jumped out of the truck and made his way to his tent which was a little way away from the camp.

"What did I tell you?" Xavier whispered harshly. Skylar flinched back slightly.

"To stay away from him," She whispered back softly to her comrade.

"And what did you do?" He was physically seething by that point. Skylar gave him a strange look and stood up to her full height of 5 feet, eight inches.

"What is your problem with him? He's done nothing to you or to me." Xavier rubbed the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"Just go to bed Skylar." With that he walked off, leaving a confused and mad Skylar.


	5. Chapter 5

The night was longer than the others to Skylar. That night she barely slept a week. In fact all of people in their camp were having a little trouble sleeping. Maybe it was the atmosphere or the night was too cold but everyone stirred in their sleeping bag, hoping to catch a sliver of sleep before the sun broke the horizon and they were forced to leave the comfort of their tents. Piper's blue eyes opened in frustration before she decided that she had, had enough of tossing and turning and decided to just leave the tent.

The early morning air was quite brisk which made her swiftly grab a hoodie before exiting the small tent fully. She stretched out, earning a groan of satisfaction when her bones popped.

"Can't sleep either?" A voice to her left asked hushed. Piper turned with a small smile on her lips at the sight of the hunter. She shrugged and pulled the sleeves of the hoodie over her hands to keep the warmth in.

"I don't think anyone can." She commented while surveying the camp, "Too damn cold, it is." She mumbled, but that wasn't it, it was something else that she couldn't put her finger on. She sat down on a log in front of Daryl and Mere's tent before patting the empty spot next to her. Surprisingly the man complied and sat down next to her so that their jean-clad legs touched.

"Back in Australia the weather was even more bi-polar than this," She started as she stuffed her hands into the hoodie pockets, "The mornings, depending on what season it was, would be so cold you wouldn't even think of leaving your bed, and then the next minute it's so hot." She brushed her blonde fringe behind her ear but it quickly escaped and fall into her blue eyes.

The pair grew silent as they watched the sun break from the horizon and the temperature slowly begin to warm up. After a while of the sun being up, Piper decided that it was warm enough to take off the hoodie and so she did. She stood from her seat on the log and grabbed the bottom of the hoodie before lifting it up, over her head in one swift motion. The action resulted in a slight reveal of toned stomach which made Daryl quickly advert his eyes to somewhere else so not to look like he was ogling the newbie.

On the other side of camp, Skylar opened her eyes after about an hour long nap. She yawned tiredly and brushed a hand through her now-wavy black hair as some form of a hairbrush. She stood up from the van and quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a random t-shirt she found in the bottom of her duffel bag. After a few minutes of just staring at the opposite wall she finally recuperated herself and jumped out of the van only to be greeted with a very warm day.

A groan escaped her lips before she could hold back resulting in a certain group member to hear her.

"What the hell was that?" A male voice asked as they turned to where Skylar was. A deep blush set on her cheeks and a shy smile made its way onto her face.

"Sorry." She whispered shyly to Shane who was the one who had heard her. A small smile made its way to the ex-officer's face as he ruffled her black hair. Skylar glared before swiping her hand at his. "The hair is not to be touched, we clear officer?" He almost laughed out loud at the annoyance in her voice but he complied nonetheless. He held his hands up in mock surrender and started to back away with a small smile on his face.

"Yes Miss Skylar, I promise it won't happen again." Skylar's lips pursed before she made a mad dash at Shane. The older man quickly went into a sprint and the two quickly found themselves running around the camp like the children, amusing the campers severely from the boring day.

"Get back here, Shane Walsh! Face my wrath like a man!" Skylar yelled with a grin on her tanned face. Shane just laughed harder and picked up speed. He dodged the clothes line just barely and rounded around the RV. He stopped to catch his breath but refrained from breathing too deeply in case Skylar found him.

Everything was quiet in the camp; even the campers who were awake stopped laughing to hear what was going on. Shane moved to the front of the RV, still hiding from Skylar's view, but he couldn't find her.

"Where is she?" He whispered confusedly to himself. Suddenly two hands covered his eyes and a gleeful voice shouted,

"Gotcha!" Shane nearly jumped out of his skin, but he played it off and laughed.

"Indeed you have Miss Skylar, now what would you like as your reward?" Skylar stepped back and thought for a moment, her index finger on her chin thoughtfully.

"I know you have a stash of chocolate bars, I want three." Shane's face fell at the thought of his precious chocolate bars being taken away. He stared at Skylar's smug face and sighed dejectedly before motioning for her to follow him to his tent. A high squeal was heard from Skylar direction, making the situation even harder for him.

Once they found his tent, he pulled out three chocolate bars from his secret spot and regretfully gave them to Skylar. She held up the bars with a proud grin on her face.

"I am the champion!" She shouted to the campers who clapped while she bowed and repeated 'Thank you' a few times.

Skylar found Piper pretty easily as she was at Daryl and Merle's little part of the camp, sitting with Daryl. She waved the chocolate bar in front of Piper's face with a grin.

"One for you," She spoke before knocking on Merle's tent.

"Oi lazy arse, I'm about to come in and you better be decent!" She unzipped the tent and immediately an arm shot out, wrapping around her waist and pulling her in with a small squeak before it closed the tent.

Daryl and Piper watched the scene with both confused and amused looks on their faces. It was just interesting to see.

Inside the tent, Skylar practically sat on Merle's lap as he rubbed his eyes tiredly. "This better be fuckin' import'nt swee' cheeks or there will be consequences." His voice was rough from sleep which caused Skylar to look away as a light pink dusted her cheeks. She showed him the chocolate bar with a small smile.

"Take it or leave it." Her voice wavered, nearly giving her away. Merle raised a questioning eyebrow but took the piece of candy, something he hadn't had in a long time.

"What's the occasion darlin'?" Skylar shrugged before sliding off of Merle's lap and sat cross-legged in front of him. She opened the chocolate bar as she spoke.

"I won some chocolate bars and I wanted to share, isn't that reason enough?" She broke off a small piece of the bar and popped it into her mouth. Her head tilted back in bliss and a groan made its way out her throat in ecstasy. Merle gulped at the sight and shoved the bar into his mouth to stop himself from saying anything.

Skylar quickly finished off the bar before noticing the melted chocolate on her fingers. She popped her thumb into her mouth and sucked the chocolate off. With a wet 'pop!' she pulled the digit out and went for her index finger which was the only other chocolate covered finger.

Merle stared hungrily at her mouth that had lifted up slightly in a small smirk. Suddenly it clicked, she was teasing him. After Skylar had pulled the digit out of her mouth, she turned to open the tent.

"Well it was nice talking to you." Rapidly two arms encircled her waist and pulled her back before she could open the tent door. A small squeak escaped Skylar's lips but that was it. Before she knew what was happening, Merle was on top of her with a wicked smile on his lips. She stared at him with innocent brown eyes and puckered lips in a pout.

"I believe I was leaving." She lifted herself onto her elbow but that was as far as Merle was letting her go. "Uh, Merle, I think one of the requirements to leave a tent was to not have human fatarse on top of you so if you could kindly-"She was cut off by Merle nuzzling her neck, his lips just slightly grazing the sensitive skin. A gasp escaped her lips before she could hold it back and her body slightly wriggled underneath the older man's.

Merle's lips trailed from her neck down to her collar bone and onto the other side, just under her ear. Skylar's neck tilted for better access, earning a small smirk from Merle. He nibbled slightly on the skin before planting a soft kiss at the hollow of her throat and stood up. Skylar's dazed eyes snapped to his smug face and immediately she knew that she had just been played and very well.

"Well played," she complimented with a small nod of her head. "Until next time." With that she swiftly left the tent to have a nice, cold dip in the quarry.


End file.
